Underwater housing for Canon XH A1
 

I am going to be shooting a lot of footage on rivers around Montana, mainly of fish and fly fishing. I would really love to get some underwater shots but want a good recommendation for an underwater housing for a Canon XH A1. A buddy of mine tried a new "underwater" casing and ruined an expensive camera, so I am understandably a little gunshy.

Well, if you are ok with a depth rating of less than 30 feet, and will never puncture the case, try the EWA Marine VXA which goes for about $500.

http://www.adorama.com/images/Product/EWVXA.jpg

Dave, thanks for the recommendation. I'll give it a try.

http://www.tedpella.com/safety_html/54515.jpg
For the soft plastic case like above, considering how expensive that Canon camera is, you can get cheap audio moisture alarms like up above for under $40.

The next step up are the hard plastic tubular housings like shown below with front and rear flat plexiglas ports and thru hull fittings. But these are in the $2500 range...so it is quite the step up, and they are bulkier but offer far greater depth specs and some protection of the unit from getting smacked. Brands like Equinox and Top Dawg housings come to mind.

http://www.dv24p.net/photos/yellow-housing-sm.jpg

Jake,

I have an A1 in a GATES housing. Now it isn't cheap but they are a fantastic workhorse, extremely robust and work really well.
It has access to all functinality, it won't fog up like a lot of the plastic / perspex housing and has flip fliter and flip diopter (optional), water alarm. I have the flat and standard dome ports, but will get the super wide when I can afford it... (around 4.5K). But you can fit the Canon WA lens inside the housing if needed (flip and diopter filters will not work)
I have owned Ikelite housings in the past and for the money they are great, but to be honest the GATES housing is totally superior.

A good person to discuss housings with is Joe Holly from Marine Visions very helpful and he also has rentals for the A1 if you want to try it out.

The only thing that may not fit your needs is the size of the housing for river use... it is a fairly heavy unit out of water... perfectly balanced in water..

I have one for sale, brand new, never used. Email me if interested.